A French court has ordered doctors to resume life support for a quadriplegic man whose case has sparked a major debate on euthanasia in France.

Doctors had begun switching off life support for Vincent Lambert, 42, on Monday, before the court order. Mr Lambert has been in a vegetative state since a 2008 motorcycle accident. His family are divided on his care with his wife calling for his feeding tubes to be withdrawn, while his parents insist he be kept alive.

An earlier judicial ruling had said Mr Lambert should be removed from life support and that process had begun with doctors halting the nutrition and hydration Lambert receives before Monday evening’s dramatic reversal by the Paris Court of Appeal.

The case has been the subject of judicial rulings, going as far as the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). Europe’s top court upheld the decision of a French court to allow Mr Lambert to be taken off life support. However, doctors then did not carry out the plan.

The UN’s Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities had called on France to intervene and delay the move to withdraw the life support while they investigated his case further. France’s ministry of health said it was not bound by the committee.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-48344426